Bastille at the O2 Academy Brixton, SW9

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Bastille are pop’s surprise success of 2013, a band on which the Brits committee no doubt wish it had bestowed its Critics Choice gong. To be fair, at the start of this year, few tipped the London quartet for fame. Yet just two months later, propelled by the huge hit single Pompeii, Bastille had topped the charts with their album Bad Blood
, now the bestselling British debut released this year and, since the summer, a success Stateside.

Founded and fronted by 25 -year -old Dan Smith, Bastille blend synth-pop with soft rock, not a combination ever likely to win over